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For as long as this league has existed, teams have employed the strategy of using real life starting pitchers who qualify as relievers in relief pitcher slots to attempt to gain an advantage in the wins and strikeout categories. Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not. There is usually a price to be paid in the ERA and WHIP categories when an additional, sometimes marginal starting pitcher is utilized. But when that extra starter is an All-Star caliber pitcher, the calculus changes quite dramatically and it becomes a huge boon to a pitching staff. The Demigods took a chance on Freddy Peralta in the eighth round of this spring’s draft, and boy did it pay off. He is the 2021 DTBL Rookie of the Year. This is the second straight year the award has been won by a Demigod, following Fernando Tatis Jr. a year ago.
Peralta struck out 195 batters, which was almost twice as many as any other DTBL reliever recorded and was a single season league record for a pitcher occupying a reliever slot, just surpassing Chris Sale’s breakout season of 2012 in which he pitched almost 50 more innings than Peralta did this year. Peralta won 10 games, which may not seem especially impressive, but in today’s suppressed starting pitcher win environment, it was another nice bump for the Demigods. The last DTBL reliever to win more games than that was Josh Collmenter in 2014. The real risk of using starters as relievers is the damage they could do to ERA and WHIP. But Peralta was elite in those categories as well, posting a 2.81 ERA and 0.97 WHIP. In total, he accumulated 6.85 PAR to lead the Demigods staff. Usually, its a bad sign if a reliver leads a team in pitching PAR. But in this case, Peralta was a legitimate ace. That PAR total was tops among DTBL rookies as well. I do not have complete awards records prior to 2005. But in the years since, Peralta is the first DTBL designated relief pitcher to win Rookie of the Year.
It is probably safe to call the selection of Peralta in the eighth round a steal for the Demigods, even with him moving to a starting pitcher slot next year. He was not enough to boost the Demigods into contention this year, but combining him with Max Fried, Aaron Nola and Joe Musgrove does give them a solid foundation on which to build. The Demigods back-to-back Rookie of the Year winners, Peralta and Tatis, may have arrived with different pedigrees: Tatis was the first overall pick in the draft while Peralta was taken 74th. But both should be huge figures in the team’s future.
Peralta did have strong competition for this award. Of the nine ballots cast, Peralta was the first choice on seven of them. The other two ballots had him second, for a total of 84 points. That gave him the award by a comfortable margin. Finishing second was Beanballers hurler Chris Bassitt, who might have won this award had he not suffered a gruesome injury when he was hit in the face with a line drive in August and missed most of the remainder of the season. Bassitt won 12 games with a 3.15 ERA. He did not receive any first place votes, but was the consensus runner up with five second place votes and 48 total points. Just behind him was Moonshiners outfielder Ryan Mountcastle who led all DTBL rookies with 33 home runs. The Moonshiners first round selection received the two first place tallies that didn’t go to Peralta and appeared on all nine ballots for a 43 point total. The third and final player to appear on every ballot was Kings outfielder Randy Arozarena. The 2020 Postseason breakout star and 2021 American League Rookie of the Year validated his status as the second overall pick in the draft with a 20/20 season. He had exactly 20 home runs and stolen bases. Arozarena received one second place vote and a slew of third through fifths for 37 points. Rounding out the top five is Mavericks starting pitcher Tyler Mahle. He led DTBL rookies with 13 wins and 197 strikeouts. He was a great find for the Mavericks in the sixth round and helped save a staff ravaged by injuries. Mahle tallied 14 points in finishing fifth.
Click here to view the full voting results.
After going months without posting a blog entry, I’m going to try to cram three in consecutive days. The plan is to announce the Cy Young winner tomorrow and MVP on Wednesday. Stay tuned!